Leeds 1-0 Barnsley

Leeds buried their Barnsley bogey thanks to Luciano Becchio’s outrageous penalty.Becchio cheekily chipped his 42nd-minute spot-kick straight down the middle – with ex-Leeds loan keeper Ben Alnwick going to his left.It was Becchio’s ninth goal this season and second penalty in successive games after converting in Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at Bolton.And it secured Leeds’ first win over the Tykes in seven encounters. Barnsley bitterly disputed referee Darren Deadman’s decision, claiming Stephen Foster’s challenge on Leeds skipper Lee Peltier was outside the box.In a fiery derby Leeds were grateful to keeper Paddy Kenny who pulled off a brilliant point-blank block from Marlon Harewood on 62 minutes.Aidy White was at fault for Leeds early on as he lost possession – giving Barnsley the chance to break.The visitors should have punished the mistake but Jacob Mellis fired wide from a great position.He missed an even better opportunity when David Perkins floated a ball over the defence and Mellis met it with a tame volley straight into the hands of stopper Kenny.Leeds had a decent penalty shout on 36 minutes when Tykes right-back Jon Stones appeared to handle Tom Lees’ header from El-Hadji Diouf’s corner.But the decision went Leeds’ way when Foster checked Peltier on the left edge of the box. Becchio had to put up with a three-minute delay while his captain received treatment but was nerveless in his execution. The Argentinian was then booked when Tykes skipper Scott Wiseman claimed he was the victim of a stamp. And Barnsley boss Keith Hill turned his frustration on the home fans behind the dugout after ironic cheers when Tykes striker Craig Davies was cautioned. Leeds boss Neil Warnock said: “I didn’t see Luciano take the penalty – I don’t like looking. “I’m going to do an Arsene Wenger and say I haven’t seen the incident that led to the penalty but I think it’s fair to say the referee didn’t have one of his better days.’’ Hill said: “The referee has got a major decision seriously wrong which has decided the outcome. It’s inexplicable. “When referees go on the defensive and don’t apologise for mistakes it becomes a bit disrespectful. But whose job will it affect?"